Bouillabaisse

I really enjoyed that, did it match up to cafe rouge standards?
Apparently not, I was actually quite surprised, I thought I’d done an amazing job, he did say afterward he should have lied and I agreed.

When I asked Mr 5 what he wanted for dinner the other day it was no surprise when he said fish risotto, it’s either that or a chilli, so after watching the last one of Micky Flanagan’s Detour De France where they stopped off and had Bouillabaisse in Marseilles I decided to make my own version, it’s actually one of Mr 5’s favourites when we were able to go out to cafe rouge, so I was keen to match up to it, talking of Cafe Rouge, we are going to attempt our first outing out of the house since he’s been home, it’s been a year, and about 18 months since he broke his hips and so far we’ve only ever managed hospital appointment in a patient transport ambulance stretcher, so it’ll be a big day for him, he’s been practising sitting in his wheelchair for up to an hour a day so he can last the duration…

Anyway, I have made several fish dishes like this before, there was a fish stew, Crayfish tail chowder and a passable Fish curry soup but I decided to push the boat out on this one, obviously it’s not a classical Bouillabaisse, it has all the wrong fish in it, but it is the middle of winter in the south of England, so this is my version of

Bouillabaisse

I started off by sweating off an onion, the adding some diced potato, once that had begun to soften a bit I added leek and carrots and continued to cook it.

Once everything had begun to soften I added mixed herbs, some chilli flakes, chopped tomatoes, both tinned and fresh and some chopped parsley

added a little cornflour just to get it to thicken

topped it up with water and left it to simmer for 10 minutes

I put the hake and haddock fillets in whole and frozen

and let them cook and break apart before adding the squid

When it was almost done I added the cleaned mussels, and the prawns which I removed the legs and body shell from

then very carefully I mixed every together and cooked it for no more the 5 minutes, until the mussels opened.

Then I simply served it in a bowl

along with some bread, grated Comte and my own version of The Rouille, which was mayonnaise mixed with garlic, tomato puree, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper and Worcester sauce

I really enjoyed that, did it match up to cafe rouge standards?
Apparently not, I was actually quite surprised, I thought I’d done an amazing job, he did say afterward he should have lied and I agreed.

Nevertheless it was really nice and we did both enjoy it.
I’ll have to try harder next time.

That’s a good idea. I follow a general policy of only making one meal, and having the things that only I enjoy as special treats when we eat out, or if I’m home on my own for whatever reason. However, neither of those happens very often, so maybe it’s time to slip in a few changes! 🙂